


Things Better Left Forgotten

by Silverkleptofox



Category: Akatsuki no Yona
Genre: Blood, Depression, Gen, Hypothermia, Violence, more violence, so many feels
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-02-23
Updated: 2016-05-01
Packaged: 2018-05-22 17:51:45
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 5
Words: 5,880
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6089026
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Silverkleptofox/pseuds/Silverkleptofox
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A lot can happen in two thousand years, especially if you can't die.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

  * For [gloriousrumpoflife](https://archiveofourown.org/users/gloriousrumpoflife/gifts).



It was a lovely day- the sky was dark and full of clouds, the ground was soft and muddy, and the sky unleashed torrents of freezing rain as the happy hungry much huddled for warmth in the dripping tent. 

And it wasn't even mid-morning yet. 

"We're going to be stuck here all day and night at this rate." Yun bemoaned. They had planned to reach the next town by the end of the day, as their supplies were running low. 

"I could jump to the next town over and get food for tonight at least." Jaeha offered, but Yun shot him down. 

"No, it's too cold out there. You'd only get drenched and freeze to death, and then where would we be? Hungry, worried, and with a shivering green beast to take care of and no fire."

"Zeno could go out!" He said with a beaming smile. 

Yun frowned. "Did you not hear what I just said!?" 

The yellow dragon waved his hand dismissively. "Zeno will be fine, fine. Zeno has survived much colder than a bit of freezing rain. Zeno was frozen solid in a lake for two months!" He smiled, the mirth in his face not matching the gravity of the statement that fell out of it. The jaws of his comrades fell to the floor.

"WHAT!??" They said in near-unison, save Shin-ah of course who leaned forward on his arms in surprise. Shin-ah reached up to take off his fluffy mane and drape it over Zeno. 

"Ah no, Zeno is fine, Seiryuu. You keep it, Zeno knows you don't like the cold." 

Shin-ah reluctantly replaced his mane but scooted to sit closer to Zeno anyway. 

Kija was rightly flabbergasted. "How can you say something like that so nonchalantly!?!" He demanded. "Two months!? How..!?" 

Yona had her hand over her mouth to hide her shocked gasp, and Jaeha and Hak were sitting dumbfounded, rain dripping onto their heads. Jaeha cleared his throat. 

"Yes, Zeno. Please tell us how that happened."

Zeno scratched the back of his head and looked up. "Well, it is a very long story..."

"We have time." Hak, Yun, and Jaeha said in deadpan. Kija was still overcome with shock and Shin-ah was gently fanning the white dragon's face. 

"We have nothing to do until the rain lets up." Yona said quietly. "So if we could hear your story, no matter how long it is, it would surely help pass the time."

Zeno smiled. "How can Zeno refuse a request from the Miss when she asks so sweetly? Well let's see, where to begin...

"It had been some time since Zeno had left the castle. King Hiryuu had gone back to heaven and his son Yak-Shi was on the throne when Zeno left, but Zeno is not sure who was the king at this time. Zeno had been traveling for many seasons, but Zeno had lost count. Anyway Zeno was very far north, near the border with Kai at the time, and two thousand years ago the winter was much colder. Far up in the mountains, there was a lake near a village. It was frozen most of the year, and the villagers would cut a hole in the ice to fish or get water. Zeno was walking across the lake one day, and the ice broke. Zeno fell in." He shrugged. 

"And that's it? You fell in the lake and stayed there for two months?" Hak asked, unbelieving. 

"Well Zeno was very tired at the time, and didn't have strength to flip the ice before the water got into Zeno's lungs. Frozen lakes can be very treacherous." He reached up and tightened his green scarf around his neck. 

Yona leaned forward. "Did no one try to rescue you?" She asked worriedly. 

 

"None of the villagers noticed until days later, they said, and by then they thought Zeno was dead. So Zeno stayed frozen in the lake for two months, until the spring came and the lake thawed completely. Then Zeno washed up ashore and woke up. The villagers were very surprised to see the boy that was frozen in the lake for so long up and walking about!" He giggled. 

Zeno closed his eyes for a second and sighed, remembering how cold he had been and relishing the warmth of his coat and scarf. No one else was talking, so he opened his eyes to see what what wrong.

They were all staring at him intently. 

"Eh..?" Zeno muttered I'm confusion 

"What happened next?" Yona asked. 

"Now now, Zeno can't tell you everything all at once! Zeno wouldn't be mysterious anymore!" He beamed. The group groaned dejectedly but let Zeno be. 

In reality, the truth of what had happened next was much to harsh of a story for the others to hear, they didn't need that sort of sadness in their life. Zeno would have to be careful about what he let slip in front of the others- falling into that lake had only been the beginning of a long road of hardship and pain. He had almost forgotten that, but now he remembered it well.


	2. A New Start

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> And so the true story begins.

It was a lovely day- the sky was bright and cloudless, the ground was dry, and the castle behind him gleamed in the sunlight as Zeno took his first steps into the work beyond its walls as a former priest.

And it wasn't even mid-morning yet. 

He had spent the better part of thirty years in that castle, first with King Hiryuu, and then as the spiritual advisor to his son, Yak-Shi. In all that time, he hasn't aged. Not one wrinkle, nor grey hair, nor inch added to his height. 

Zeno drank the blood of the golden dragon at age fifteen, before he had even begun to become a man. He celebrated two birthdays with Hiryuu and his dragon brothers before he realized he wasn't changing, and stopped marking that day. If anyone ever asked him his age, Zeno would always say 'seventeen'. He could pass for seventeen, anyhow. 

But no one in the castle asked Zeno his age anymore.

No one dared. 

There were people in the castle he had known as infants, and had watched grow into their thirties, all while he never changed. People who hadn't lived in the time of King Hiryuu and didn't believe his story. People that were afraid of the boy who never aged, especially that such a mysterious child was in a position of such great power. 

Zeno listened to the murmurings and whispers said behind closed doors in private spaces. They questioned his intentions, his relationship with the king, his decisions. They wanted him gone, but they were too afraid to say anything against King Yak-Shi's trusted advisor. 

They had no idea of the battles he had fought for them, alone. Quelling disputes with a single sword and the power of Ouryuu, letting them believe that it was the work of the gods that kept them safe. It wasn't exactly a lie. It was not that they were ungrateful, they were merely ignorant. And in their ignorance, they were fearful.

So Zeno left. 

That very morning, he had pulled an altar boy from his studies, one who could actually hear the voice of the gods as Zeno used to -all this time he had been only pretending, perhaps the nobles were right in thinking he was a fraud after all- he gave the boy his precious amulet that had once belonged to Hiryuu, adorned him with his priestly cloak, and left. 

All before midmorning. 

He stepped outside the castle walls not knowing what he hoped for. A new start? To find meaning in this life he had been cursed with? Zeno had no idea. But he would survive.

He always did.

He realized, too late, that he had nowhere to go. There was no one for him to visit- Guen, Shuten, and Abi had all died months ago. All within days of each other. 

He had promised Guen he would visit his village. He had promised to bring Shuten some good liquor. And Abi... He hasn't been able to promise Abi anything. Not since he had broken the last promise he had made to the blue dragon. He hadn't dared promise anything to him again. 

Even though the others were gone, perhaps he could still keep his promises. Zeno could feel the presence of the white dragon, somewhere off to the northwest. It wasn't the same as Guen, but it was definitely Hakuryuu.

Perhaps he would start there.

And so it was a lovely day that Zeno left behind everything he had known for what would have been most of his life, and set out to amend that which he had forgotten.


	3. The first steps are the hardest

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This whole thing isn't as easy as Zeno thought.

As soon as Zeno stepped outside of the city surrounding the red castle, he felt something cold and heavy against his chest. A feeling washed over him, making him feel heavy and light and warm and dizzy all at the same time- he hadn't felt like that for so many years, not since the gods stopped speaking to him. Why was he feeling the presence of the gods now? 

He raised a hand to grip at his aching heart, but he felt something there, beneath this cloak. 

What?

Zeno opened his cloak and fished into his robe, and his hand closed around something very familiar. It was the amulet that King Hiryuu had given him when Zeno had first demonstrated the golden dragon's gift. But he had left the amulet with that altar boy, how was it here again, with him?

"I give this to you, Zeno, that you'll always know that I am with you." That's what King Hiryuu had said. Looking back on it, Zeno supposed that Hiryuu had always known exactly what his brother had cursed Zeno with, at least from that day on. At the time, it was so confusing. One minute he was showing Shuten his ability, the next Hiryuu was saying strange things and giving him a present. Zeno realized now, with the amulet safely around his neck, that Hiryuu had known from that instant exactly the sorrow Zeno would face in his life. He had lived for fifty years already, and he hadn't changed one bit. 

Hiryuu had never told Zeno his power. Zeno had asked, but Hiryuu had died before he answered Zeno. 

Zeno had found out the hard way the he would never die. 

What did you mean? He thought as he adjusted the necklace around his neck and turned his eyes to the sky. He didn't know if Hiryuu could hear him, up in the heavens. He couldn't tell anymore.

\--------

Zeno walked, and walked, along the well-worn paths near border to the city, heading in the general direction of Hakuryuu's presence. The sun was begging to lower near the horizon- just starting on the edge of twilight. It was then Zeno realized that he hasn't eaten anything all day. His stomach growled in protest.

It used to be that he would go a few days without eating, or survive on just one meal a day. The village where he was born had been very poor, but that was so long ago now. After he had been taken in by the temple, he was assured of at least a bowl of rice every evening. 

Occasionally he would be overcome with the voice of the gods, and it would sap his strength and leave him weak and hungry. Once or twice he had gone days without eating by mere virtue of being unconscious the entire time. Being a mouthpiece for the gods was taxing. 

Then he had heard the call of Ouryuu.

His days in the palace were rocky at first, Ashe kept sneaking food away to give to hungry villagers. Three meals a day had seemed so excessive to him- but Hiryuu had been distraught at the very thought of Zeno skipping meals. 

You have to eat! He had cried when he discovered Zeno hadn't taken his afternoon meal for three days in a row. You have to keep up your strength, Zeno. I couldn't bear to see you in pain. 

That silly King...

Zeno still missed him. His love of others was so pure and strong, untainted by the worst parts of humanity. Oh to be a god turned mortal without any of the hardships of growing up that way.

Zeno's stomach growled again, breaking him from his musings. He hadn't felt proper hunger in so long, it must have been thirty years now. The palace had spoiled him. 

Then Zeno remembered that he hadn't brought any food. 

"Damn it..." He sighed. 

\-------

His first attempts at finding food had been unfruitful to say the least. Zeno knew nearly nothing of surviving in the wild. 

His only forays into the wilderness alone thus far has been suicidal one-man crusades to take down entire armies in secret. 

He hadn't really needed to worry about food, then. 

He would ride on horseback to meet the impending army, and ask them politely to leave. Invariably they wouldn't, and he would have to fight them all. It usually ended in Zeno covered in blood, mud, and impenetrable golden scales. He would ride back to the castle, or, on a few sad occasions when his horse had been killed, walk. 

He would stop in a stream a few miles outside of the castle and wash off, changing into his spare clothes, and sneak back into the palace clean, whole, and soft-skinned once more.

No one ever knew the sacrifices he had made for this country, and he had kept it that way. He told them it was the gods that had removed the invading armies.

Well it wasn't a lie. 

The stream! Zeno thought. It had to run around here somewhere. If he couldn't find any wild berries or fruits, maybe he could catch a fish. 

\-------

By the time he found the stream, the sun had set and the moon had risen. He couldn't see well enough to catch anything. 

He wasn't Abi.

So he laid out his cloak over a flat bit of ground near the stream and laid upon it, looking up at the moon through the branches and listening to the soft sound of the stream.

That night, for the first time in over thirty years, Zeno went to sleep hungry.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A necessarily short chapter. 
> 
> I welcome requests, theories, and heacanons. Please reach out to me on tumblr- SilverKleptoFox :)


	4. Guilt is a Hard Thing to Let Go

Zeno dreamed of Abi.

He saw Abi's shining blue hair, his condescending gaze that held a tinge of fondness, the way he would sip his cup of tea with dignity, especially after he had just made a scathing comment and wanted to hide his smirk in his cup. 

Zeno dreamed of how he had failed his closest brother. 

He saw Abi crying, blindfolded and bound in the crate he had been stuffed into. His fine clothes rumpled and dirty, and under the blindfold his beautiful eyes were swollen, tear-streaked, and fearful. He had been kidnapped from within the palace walls- if only Zeno had been there to protect him, none of this would have happened. That had been his job, the one thing he was useful for- protecting Abi and getting him away from the battlefield when he collapsed. Zeno had spent many hours at the bedside of a frustrated, angry, and paralyzed blue dragon. They had become close over the years.  
But Zeno had been elsewhere that night. Abi had been wandering the gardens by moonlight as he was wont to do, and men from another kingdom had kidnapped him. Zeno didn't know the details, because no one had noticed until hours later, when he, Guen, and Shuten awoke in a cold sweat knowing something was wrong. 

They found him days later, tied up in a crate in the back of a wagon like a piece of cargo. His beautiful, bitter, blue-haired dragon brother, frightened and alone. 

Not a single kidnapper was left standing. 

Abi was a crying mess when they freed him; he was trembling in fear and exhaustion and Guen had to help him stand. He had burns from the ropes they had tied him with and his blindfold was soaked with tears- but Abi wouldn't let Zeno remove it.

Zeno only saw Abi's eyes once more after that day, on the day Abi left. They had been swollen and filled with tears then, too. 

They had wanted to use Abi's beautiful eyes as a weapon for their own gain. When Abi refused, they planned to cut off his head in the hopes that his eyes would still work. All Zeno could think of was that if he had only been there to protect his brother, none of this would have happened. 

That was the day that his brothers decided to stop flaunting their powers lest the same fate befall them. 

He dreamed of Abi and his crying eyes, how he had trembled in their arms and cursed the greedy humans that Hiryuu so loved.

Why didn't you come to me? Zeno heard him say. You always came for me. When I collapsed, you were there. When I was taken, you came to me. Abi's voice whispered in his mind, a product of his own imagination and guilt. Why didn't you come to me Ouryuu? I waited for you. I died waiting for you. 

Zeno dreamed of Abi's beautiful, deadly, golden eyes chastising him for breaking his promise. He dreamed of those eyes with another face, a younger face, hiding behind a painted mask. The face opened its mouth to speak, but Zeno was roughly jostled awake before he could hear what they said. 

Someone was touching him. 

"Hmmm?" He hummed groggily as he felt a pair of hands in the front of his shirt. Zeno snapped awake and grabbed the offending arm, its dirty fingers wrapped around his precious amulet. He looked up to see a dirty face leaning over him, and another to his side searching through his small bag of possessions.

"What are you..." Zeno began, but the man above him took his free hand and squeezed his throat to shut him up.

"You better be quiet or we'll kill you. We don't want any trouble, we just want your valuables. But if you scream, you're gonna die." He said quietly.  
Zeno nodded. He could easily defeat these two bandits, but he also knew that his amulet was blessed and would return to him anyway, even if it was stolen. They think I'm just an ordinary traveler... It would be best if he maintained that illusion. The inhabitants of the castle had forgotten about his power over the years- it had faded into a rumor that few truly believed. It was better that way, after all. No one would come for him, to try to use him like they had tried to use Abi. 

Was Abi trying to warn me in my dreams? 

He had to focus on not letting himself get hurt- if they saw his powers, they would be frightened and attack. They were always frightened- he was a monster, after all. Then he would have to fight them. Zeno had never been a fan of taking another's life. So he kept quiet and nodded.

"Smart kid." The robber grunted as he yanked the necklace from Zeno's neck, breaking the string that held it together and letting the beads go flying. Then he released Zeno's throat. 

Zeno coughed, trying to pull air back into his lungs and hide the bruises that were quickly vanishing from sight beneath his collar. 

"Find anything in there?" The robber said to his accomplice. 

"Just a few coins, a change of clothes, and an old dagger, not worth selling." He replied. He gathered the coins into his own purse and tossed Zeno's few belongings onto the middle ground. He picked up the dagger and stomped over to hold it under Zeno's chin.

 

"Please..." Zeno coughed. "Just take it and leave." 

The second man grinned wryly. "Oh, the kid's not afraid, is he?" He lurched forward, dagger in hand. Zeno scrambled back across the ground to get away. Hopefully if he seemed afraid enough, they would leave him alone. Alas, it was a useless ploy. The man kept coming. He grabbed Zeno by the wrist and pulled him up to standing.

"I really don't want any trouble, so please just let me go and I'll be on my way." Zeno said softly, putting as much fear as he could into his words. It was difficult- he hadn't been truly afraid of anything for so long.

The criminal just laughed. Zeno knew it sounded ridiculous- he looked like a frail teenager, alone in the woods, at the mercy of these two thieves. He didn't have a visible muscle on his 

"Stupid brat. You know our faces, so we can't let you live. I can't take the chance that you won't tell anyone else!" The thief said as he pulled back Zeno's dagger and plunged it between his ribs, just below the collarbone. It was a fatal wound, and Zeno gasped in pain before going limp. 

Damnit.

He was hoping the thief would let him go so he could collapse to the ground and pretend to be dead to hide his power. No such luck- he could feel the flesh knitting back together as soon as the weapon was pulled from his chest. The robber screamed and let go of Zeno's wrist. Zeno fell to the ground and grasped at where the thief had wrenched the old, rusted dagger from his chest. It hurt. But then again, it always did. His shirt fell open to reveal the skin over his heart covered in glistening golden scales, reflecting amber in the moonlight. He slowly stood, and looked at the two who had wronged him, making sure to catch the moonlight in his eye as he glared- that always made the rabble squirm.

"I was going to let you go peacefully..." He sighed "...but now you've seen what I am, and I can't take the chance that you won't tell anyone else." Not like Abi... "So I'm very sorry, but you'll both have to die now."

Zeno bent to the earth to pick up his dagger. It had been a gift from Shuten. He had always said that Zeno was too small to defend himself bare-handed. He grabbed it by the hilt and threw. It landed deep in the middle of the thief's forehead. Zeno was skilled at throwing things- another gift from Shuten. The man who had killed him just moments ago fell to the ground dead at the blade of the same dagger. Zeno wrenched it from the man's skull with a quick tug and turned to the other thief- the one who had woken him. 

"No! No, please forgive me! I won't tell a soul! Just let me go!" The first man cowered, his head bent low to the ground. 

"You see," Zeno said, walking slowly towards the thief. He couldn't have been more than seventeen- the same age Zeno looked. "There was a time when I would have killed you both already. But I'm feeling merciful in my old age. So go." He said. The kid had stood to the side during the conflict, he was probably only following the other thief's orders. He hadn't hurt Zeno directly, either. "Tell no one of what you saw tonight, and pray to the gods for forgiveness."

He nodded quickly and scrambled to his feet to run off into the night. 

Zeno sighed and walked over to where they had ruined his things. His spare set of clothes was covered in mud, his amulet was broken with beads all around the forest floor, and his point of his dagger was chipped. 

Zeno solemnly began picking up the scattered beads of his amulet- he would re-string it in the morning, when he could see better. He would wash his clothes in the stream as well, hopefully after catching something to eat. He didnt find the missing shard of his dagger, but he figured it was lost anyway, probably in the skull of the man that lay not ten feet from him. 

Zeno wanted to settle back down in his pile of leaves for the rest of the night. Dying and healing always left him exhausted, no matter how simple the wound was. If his scales cane out, they wouldn't fade until he rested. But the thought of sleeping next to a corpse, no matter how many he had seen in his life, was very unsettling. So he packed up his dirty clothes and his beads and tied the remainder of his amulet into the band that held his hair back, and set off downstream by moonlight. 

Is that what you felt, Abi? When they came to take your eyes? Zeno thought to himself as he gazed at the stars. How frightened you must have been. Forgive me for not protecting you better, my brother. 

\-----------

He walked until sunrise, when he sat by the banks and washed himself and his clothes, and attempted to re-string his amulet, to no avail. The strings had snapped and frayed and he couldn't get the beads over the end- it would have to wait until he could buy another cord. His stomach rumbled angrily.

Zeno sighed as he hung up his coat and rolled up his trousers to wade into the stream. He knew he couldn't die of hunger, but it was still irritating. Time to do things the old-fashioned way, he thought, chuckling at his own joke.

Catching fish with his bare hands had never been Zeno's talent, but Guen had taught him a few tricks over the years. By late morning, he had two fish roasting over a small fire. It wasn't much, but it would do just fine for one person.

He ate the fish quickly, and coughed when he felt something stuck in his chest. It was probably just a fish bone- they were very small and easy to swallow. He thought nothing more if it and stamped out the fire. Maybe if he walked all day, he could make it to where Hakuryuu's presence was glowing in his mind by sundown.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And so we lay the groundwork for many fun things later. Let me know what you think.


	5. A Memory of Warmth

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The last leg of the journey to Hakuryuu village

Zeno wasn't going to make it to the spirit of Hakuryuu by sundown. As the day moved on and Zeno moved northward, the sky had darkened to a deep grey and rumbled with the low moan of thunder. He kept walking as the storm clouds thickened, determined to cover as much ground as he could. He knew he could walk through the storm unharmed, but it wouldn't be easy, and his clothes were not blessed with the power of Ouryuu. Zeno didn't particularly feel like washing them again after last night. Not that mud was harder to wash than blood, but still. It would be faster to wait out the storm and stay dry than to get wet and filthy, travel during the storm, and then have to wash everything and wait for it to dry.   
He didn't want to stroll up to Hakuryuu looking like a San-Shin or some other forest spirit. Zeno chuckled at the mental image of himself sopping wet, covered in mud and leaves, and Guen looking absolutely aghast. 

Guen was- had been- such a unique and pure soul. He was rough, but kind; strong, but gentle; viscous, but merciful. He was everything Zeno had looked up to. 

Zeno had never been strong. 

Before he was called by Ouryuu, he was just a boy. A scrawny, pale, fifteen-year-old boy who had never picked up a weapon- it was forbidden to priests. The temple had taken him in after his family had died of diphtheria.   
He was only seven. 

There was nothing Zeno could do to save them, his only talent was hearing the gods. Zeno had cried out to them to help, and they had let his family die. The gods severed his ties to the world and delivered him unto their service. 

They could be cruel sometimes.

The priesthood had been all he had known for eight years- half his life- when Ouryuu called him.   
He had devoted his life to serving the voices in his head, despite how it made people hate him.  
He had been so frail, but the voice of the gods had been so strong within him.

It wasn't a good combination. 

Every time the gods spoke to him, he grew dizzy and faint, speaking their words sapped all of his strength.   
More than once, a god would possess his body to do their bidding and deliver a message to someone far away, and when they were done, they would leave his body exhausted on the hard earth. 

Then Zeno had answered Ouryuu's summons, and met the other dragons. And there was Guen, a strong, bare-chested figure with wide shoulders and a wider smile. He was everything Zeno had wished he could be. Guen could help people. He could do more than just warn people of impending danger and promptly collapse, Guen could actually defend people. He had a sword, and he could run quickly, and he commanded an army that all looked up to him. 

Guen was amazing. 

And then Guen had been chosen by Hakuryuu. His hair shone white as his smile, and his arm shine with the scales of a dragon- he was even stronger. 

And Zeno...

All Zeno had been given was golden hair.

Or so he thought at the time. 

Zeno had hoped that Ouryuu would make him strong. Strong like Guen was. Strong so he could protect people, Ouryuu had promised him a sturdy body, but it had taken him so long to figure out what exactly that meant. 

For a long time Zeno had been jealous of Guen. 

Guen was the older brother he had looked up to, but could never become.

And Guen protected him like a brother. Zeno- the one dragon that didn't need protecting, and Guen still did his utmost to keep him from harm. 

Zeno smiled fondly, remembering once when they were fighting in the northwest, the area that would become the earth territory. A stray arrow had nicked his forehead, and of course a cascade of blood had flowed from the shallow wound. Guen had immediately pulled zeno out of the battle and told him to stay out of harm's way.

Guen had decimated the opposing forces with his gleaming white arm, and still, as Zeno looked over the battlefield in awe, Guen had come up to him with a roll of bandages for his forehead. 

The look on his face when he realized there was no wound was something Zeno would keep in his heart forever. 

Guen had always been so caring and gentle towards him, beneath his gruff exterior. 

He was strong in every way. 

That was part of the reason he hadn't gone to visit after Guen left- he had been too ashamed of himself and his own jealousy. Zeno didn't want to show up to Guen's home with no proof that he had gotten stronger. 

Of course, now he knew he would never get stronger -not physically at least- nothing about his body would ever change. But Guen wouldn't know that- he had left without knowing the extent of Zeno's powers. 

The years had droned by without Zeno noticing, assisting Yak-Shi and squashing minor rebellions without paying attention to the passage of time, and then...

Then it had been to late, and Guen's light had been snuffed from the world, and Zeno had never kept his promise to visit. 

The sky lit up with a flash of lightning and a boom of thunder, stirring Zeno from his thoughts. 

It wouldn't do to get stuck in the past and forget to live, now would it? Hiryuu wouldn't want that. Guen wouldn't want that. He looked to the sky... And promptly a fat raindrop plopped right into his eye. 

Zeno chucked and scrubbed at his face, scrambling for cover under the thick branches of a tree. He had covered quite a bit of ground before the rain had started, the light of Hakuryuu burned hotter and brighter in his mind, like the flame of a freshly-lit candle when someone forgot to trim the wick. The clouds turned a musty green color- like Ryokuruu himself was rolling in the heavens. It was such a strange sight to see, terrifying and beautiful. Zeno supposed if he were mortal, he would fear it more, but it was honestly breathtaking, how the sun setting behind the clouds painted the storm green and grey. Abi would've loved it.

\------

The rain stopped somewhere in the early hours of the morning, and Zeno rose from his hideaway to begin on his trek once more, but there was that pain in his chest again. It was sharp and sudden, as he arched forward to stand up, like someone had stabbed him in the heart- and he had known that exact sensation enough times to accurately compare it. 

But it was gone as soon as it began.

How strange. 

He gathered his things, shook the water and fallen leaves off of his cloak, and set off to the north. 

It was peaceful traveling at night in the mountains. The moon was full enough to see by, and Zeno picked his way up the mountain undisturbed by bandits or wild animals. By sunrise, he could see the fire-smoke of a village in the distance, just through the trees and across a clearing. He could feel Hakuryuu in that village. 

He had finally made it to Guen's home, after so many, many years. 

He looked to the sky.

"I couldn't keep my promise to you Guen. I am sorry. Please let me keep my promise to the next generation." Zeno prayed, hoping Guen could see him in the heavens. 

Zeno stepped into the clearing as the sun rose behind him, catching on his golden hair and shining like a beacon. 

Apparently someone saw that shining beacon, because as Zeno stepped forward, an arrow pierced the ground at his feet. 

He looked up and saw a figure in shining white standing atop the rampart near the gate, holding a bow with another arrow nocked.

Zeno smiled and waved his hands high above his head in an enthusiastic greeting... Until another arrow flew between his arms and nicked his finger. 

Well then.

This had to be the right village, Zeno could feel Hakuryuu's spirit within, burning white and bright and full of love and hope and... Fear? Then why were they shooting at him? 

Had Guen not told his family that Zeno might one day come? 

Zeno took and see breath and cupped his hands around his mouth. 

"HELLO! PLEASE STOP SHOOTING AT ME!" He shouted at the sentry.

"GO AWAY!" The sentry replied.

Zeno chucked. "BUT I WAS INVITED!" He yelled back. 

There was a moment of silence where Zeno could tell the sentry was immensely confused. "BY WHOM? WHO ARE YOU?" They replied.

"BY HAKURYUU GUEN. I AM ZENO, THE HOST OF OURYUU." 

The sentry nearly fell from their post in shock. A moment later, the gate opened. 

Well, I guess this is it, Zeno thought. As the crossed the clearing and stepped through the gate he smiled at the heavens and hoped Guen was smiling back.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chapter inspired by Buri-Art's work: http://buri-art.tumblr.com/post/143670697048/strange-request-but-ive-hit-a-roadblock-in
> 
> Comments/ suggestions/ headcanons are always welcome <3

**Author's Note:**

> This is just the preface to what I hope will be a very long story about what happened to Zeno in between leaving the castle and joining Yona. Please stick with me until the end, and let me know what you think, and ideas are welcome. 
> 
> It is inspired by Gloriousrumpoflife's thoughts on Jae-ha's life and the other fics for the other dragons in this fandom.


End file.
